If Netflix’s library just isn’t cutting it, check out another premium offering with our list of the best tv shows on Now TV Ireland.
If you’re hankering for an epic-length binge session, Now TV has got you more than covered. Digging through its expansive library reveals an absolute treasure trove of the best series ever broadcast. Collected here is a rock-solid list of nothing short of must-watch content. So, make some popcorn, turn your phone off and prepare to obliterate an entire weekend.
The top 10 TV shows on Now TV Ireland
- Game of Thrones
- The Walking Dead
- Westworld
- The Handmaid’s Tale
- Veep
- Billions
- The Wire
- Band of Brothers
- Boardwalk Empire
- Deadwood
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1. Game of Thrones (2011)
Cast:
- Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen
- Kit Harington as Jon Snow
- Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
- Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister
Jon Arryn, hand of the king to Robert Baratheon, has died (and for reasons that are becoming more and more suspicious). Needing a replacement, the king taps the shoulder of Ned Stark, an honourable-to-a-fault provincial lord who begrudgingly relocates his family to the capital of King’s Landing. What he finds is a viper’s nest of deceit and betrayal, plus there are some tough decisions to make regarding a young, would-be usurper queen who’s growing in strength, half a world away. And that’s all the good news taken care of. Unbeknown to any of these backstabbing lords or ladies is an even greater threat to the icy north. Winter is coming and with it the apocalypse.
2. The Walking Dead (2010)
Cast:
- Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes
- Sarah Wayne Callies as Lori Grimes
- Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon
- Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee
Generally speaking, waking up from a coma is supposed to be a joyous occasion. Not so for sheriff Rick Grimes, a man opening his eyes to a new world order where zombies (sorry, “walkers”) have lurched to the top of the food chain. Hideously outnumbered and unarmed, Rick must desperately make his way from post-pandemic Atlanta back to his rural home in an effort to locate his wife and son. Along the way he’ll collect a ragtag group of survivors, some of them assets with hidden talents that benefit the group (but most are just clueless liabilities, the true titular walking dead). Go in expecting great drama and a decent amount of gore.
3. Westworld (2016)
Cast:
- Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy
- Thandie Newton as Maeve Millay
- Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe
- James Marsden as Theodore “Teddy” Flood
Think, a real-life recreation of the video game Red Dead Redemption 2: a cowboy fantasy theme park for the insanely rich and powerful. In this geographically immense Wild West sandbox, every attendee’s desire is catered for, no matter how dark the impulse (after all, any “killed” android actors can always be repaired and refitted for another user’s holiday). That said, the string-pullers soon begin to notice that a growing number of marionettes are exhibiting AI glitches. Routines that are eerily similar to human consciousness are on the rise as the resort’s enigmatic creator nears his (forced) retirement. Factor in that Westworld was all written by Jurassic Park creator Michael Crichton and yeah, you can probably see where this is all heading.
4. The Handmaid’s Tale (2017)
Cast:
- Elisabeth Moss as Offred
- Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford
- Joseph Fiennes as Commander Fred Waterford
- Max Minghella as Nick Blaine
Though it sometimes feels like we’re living in our own alternate timeline nowadays, trust us when we say it can always be worse. The near-future, dystopian world of The Handmaid’s Tale is impossibly bleak. American democracy has given way to an outright totalitarian military theocracy called the Republic of Gilead. Imagine bible-bashing taken to the fundamentalist extreme: human rights are stripped away and the few women who still possess the ability to reproduce become live-in slaves for any regional governor who rules with a righteous iron fist. Among these is Offred, a handmaid determined to resist her indoctrination and escape this horrific new world of colourised outfits and casual capital punishment.
5. Veep (2012)
Cast:
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer
- Anna Chlumsky as Amy Brookheimer
- Tony Hale as Gary Walsh
- Matt Walsh as Mike McLintock
Veep (short for VP/vice president) is a hilarious look into American politics that centres on former senator Selina Meyer (played by Emmy-Award-winning Seinfeld alumni Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Originally enthusiastic about the position of power, Selina soon finds out that the reality is nothing like what she expected and everything everyone ever warned her about. Flanked by a misfit team of aides and desperate to make any kind of legacy for herself, Selina’s efforts are constantly thwarted by day-to-day bureaucracy and politics that define the broader administration.
6. Billions (2016)
Cast:
- Paul Giamatti as Chuck Rhoades
- Damian Lewis as Bobby “Axe” Axelrod
- Maggie Siff as Wendy Rhoades
- Toby Leonard Moore as Bryan Connerty
There’s no disputing it: hedge fund titan Bobby “Axe” Axelrod is a brilliant man who’s self-made his way up from extremely humble beginnings. That said, there’s simply no way that his immense, 10-figure fortune has been amassed by pure luck and animal instincts alone. Suspecting insider trading and slowly discovering a web of bribery and deceit, brash US district attorney Chuck Rhoades sniffs out the trail of Axelrod, a long-time employer of his psychiatrist wife. Thus begins a Wall-Street-based, winner-takes-all game of cat-and-mouse.
7. The Wire (2002)
Cast:
- Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty
- Lance Reddick as Cedric Daniels
- Sonja Sohn as Kima Greggs
- Wood Harris as Avon Barksdale
Avon Barksdale, undisputed drug lord of West Baltimore, runs a tight game and is a faceless enigma as far as the local police department is concerned. All that changes when a state’s witness is executed, drawing the attention of a local judge and an ambitious young detective who grifts his way into forming a special task force. Understaffed with the refuse from other departments, but in possession of on-loan surveillance tech from the FBI, this motley crew of homicide and narcotics detectives set about dismantling an empire. On the other side of the fence, Barksdale ramps up what is already a sophisticated operation and the counter-intelligence chess game begins in earnest.
8. Band of Brothers (2001)
Cast:
- Damian Lewis as Richard D. Winters
- Ron Livingston as Lewis Nixon
- Donnie Wahlberg as C. Carwood Lipton
- Matthew Settle as Ronald Speirs
When the United States entered World War II the best of the enlisted gravitated towards paratrooper training. The elite of that elite formed Easy Company. Band of Brothers chronicles their real-life accounts by drawing from military reports, personal letters and first-hand interviews from the survivors. This critically acclaimed mini-series follows the incredible heroism and sacrifices made by these soldiers all the way from D-Day aerial insertion, through Market Garden and the Bulge, right up to capturing Hitler’s private retreat on V-Day. Every bit as shocking and moving as Spielberg’s cinematic masterpiece, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers is unmissable television.
9. Boardwalk Empire (2010)
Cast:
- Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson
- Michael Shannon as Nelson Van Alden
- Stephen Graham as Al Capone
- Shea Whigham as Elias “Eli” Thompson
Meet Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, Atlantic City string-puller and bootlegger who became an all-powerful force when the US government passed prohibition in the 1920s. Based on actual historical events and people, Boardwalk Empire is a sordid, behind-the-scenes look into the birth of organised crime in America. As Nucky’s power and influence grow his good fortune attracts rivals and changeable gangster allies (one notable example being a young Al Capone). That said, a lavish lifestyle and brutal mob justice also attract a new breed of lawman: obsessed Federal investigators who’ll go to extreme lengths to take him down.
10. Deadwood (2004)
Cast:
- Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock
- Ian McShane as Al Swearengen
- Molly Parker as Alma Garret
- Jim Beaver as Whitney Ellsworth
Welcome to Deadwood, South Dakota, a gold rush community with bold aspirations of becoming “a somewhere town” despite being nowhere near cosmopolitan. Drawn from real-life history books, the citizenry are cutthroats, grifters and entertainment entrepreneurs looking to make a dollar off any tenderfooted peckerwood lured in from the frontier by thirst, lust or good old fashioned gold fever. Come for the era-authentic attention to detail and coarse language. Stay for a decent re-enactment of Wild Bill Hickock’s worst poker hand, plus the slow boil showdown between reluctant lawman Seth Bullock and scheming saloon owner Al Swearengen.